Category Archives: Unsolved

368H: LONELY WOMAN IN CASTLE GIVEN TEDDY BEAR BY GIRL

1 Reply

If i remember correctly, the story was part of a collection of short stories all about teddy bears/ bears. The story I am looking for is about a small village where an old woman lived in a dark castle away from the village and no one ever saw her, the village people were all frightened of her because they thought she was a witch. Then one day I think some village kids wanted to see what she was like and so they made this young village girl go up to the castle and stay there, or perhaps she got lost and ended up there, i can’t be sure but for some reason she ended up at this castle and I think she was sleeping there overnight. She may have also brought a basket with her for the old woman, so it was possibly her idea. Maybe she was trying to help the woman? She brought her teddy bear with her which is really important in the story. She saw this old woman crying I think or something but when the old woman saw this little girl’s teddy she was happy because I think it turns out that possibly her son died or something and all she wanted was a friend, she was so lonely after he died which is why she locked herself up in the castle. So this little girl gives her the teddy bear as a comfort and suddenly the old woman is really happy again and her castle turns colourful and she becomes friends with the village people and all because she was given a teddy bear. I can’t remember if the bit about the son is real, or if it was just that she was lonely and being given a teddy bear cheered her up. that was the main essence of the story.

I am from England and I am 22, and I was about 6-10 when i read this, so anywhere from 2005-2011, but it could be an older book, i really don’t know. any help finding this is so appreciated thank you. 

368G: Searching for a Children’s Book with a Valentines Day Theme

Leave a reply

1950s or early 1960s children’s picture book. Little boy has some sort of issue on Valentines Day; maybe a fight with his brother? I think he loses a valentine card, maybe one that he made. I remember an illustration of him in his pajamas outside in the snow. I think he finds the missing valentine outside in the snow. 

368D: YA Book from the early 90s about a boy who spends a summer in California

2 Replies

This was a pretty small paperback, sold at Scholastic book fairs in the early 90s. It was meant for late elementary school to early middle school readers. It’s fiction, and I believe it might have been in the format of a diary kept by the main character. Pretty sure the cover had a mountain lion on it.

It was about a boy from Michigan or some other Midwestern state who for some reason had to go to California for a summer (maybe he was in some trouble at school or his parents were getting divorced, don’t remember). I remember a scene with a rattlesnake, where someone ends up chopping its head off with a garden hoe.

The ending involved him getting lost in a canyon and stalked by a mountain lion. He was about to try fighting it with a rock when search and rescue showed up to help him.

368A: Fighting animals and villains on a ranch

5 Replies

I’m looking for a YA or MG book about a teen boy who lives on a ranch (New Mexico? west Texas?), his cousin Horace comes to visit for summer which he thinks will ruin his summer but Horace turns out to be a good guy who can ride and shoot and they become good friends.  There is a mountain lion or cougar that kills his dad’s prize bull Red Toro so they go out to find the cougar, Horace shoots it with a great shot.  Along the way there are some villains who are trying to jump a gold claim, Horace sprains his ankle, has to be hauled out by the boy on an Indian trapezoid carry deal, they fool the bad guys into fording the river where there is quick sand and all ends well.  Can’t remember title.  Book had line drawings, and I think the cover was edged in burnt orange or brown. 

367Z: The Rainy Day

3 Replies

I’m looking for a book that probably came out in the late 70s/early 80s. It was illustrated with primarily line art, orange and yellow colors. A little girl lived with her parents in an apartment (I think?) and had a rainy day. She went outside to play in the rain, came inside for a bath and soup. It is such a simple book but it always comforted me because the family stayed home and made their own fun together. Being a child of divorce, this was foreign to me. I’d dearly love to find it again.

367X: Family takes an elevator underground – whistle if you get lost

1 Reply

The book I’m looking for is as follows:

Children’s book   – from the UK
I read it in the UK when i was a kid in the 1970s

It was illustrated but with line drawings – was for older kids, maybe 7/8 and up?
There was a story in it about a family who takes an elevator down into the ground, and they whistle to each other if they get lost.
It was a collection of stories for kids. 

It might have also had poetry in it
This story has haunted me for years, no idea if it will ring a bell with someone somewhere

367W: The Undead Fetus

Leave a reply

A male news reporter finds his pregnant wife dead. He is attacked and ends up in hospital. The police tell him the fetus is missing/stolen. He comes back home to find the fetus there. He buries it, but it crawls back out. His wife turns out to be an ancient god. There’s a cyclops. The town has a Halloween parade.

367V: Kids survive by foraging on beach

4 Replies

I was born in 1987 so most likely this book was read to me around 1992 or 1993. It was a paper back, chapter book. It did not have pictures. I would guess it was a YA novel. There were kids, possibly sisters, in the story who have to fend for themselves while living without grown ups in a beach house. To survive they collect snails or cockles from the beach and learn how to cook them. It might be that they ran away from home or were abandoned by the adults. I don’t recall the rest of the context. There may have been an old telephone in the house which they were trying to fix to get in touch with someone. It was a little bit scary to me but mostly exciting. The book was super engaging to me – I loved books about wilderness survival and foraging for food, such as My Side of the Mountain. I loved the idea that they had to live off the land around them and the ocean.

367T: Fantasy creatures sing boy to sleep, get stolen, then rescued

1 Reply

I am looking for a children’s picture book from the late 1970s, early 1980s. The book was on natural/beige paper with brown line drawings. The story was a fantasy where a young boy lives in a small cottage. Every night, flying creatures (birds? harpy-like things?) fly over his home and sing him to sleep. Possibly as the sun sets. They sing the same song every night. The lyrics were along the lines of “Remember my friend of the song of your heart. Remember my friend, for the rest of your life. Love conquers all, for it never grows dim. Love conquers all, for all time”. The book came with a cassette tape and my siblings and I could probably hum the song to this day. One night, the bird things don’t come and sing. The boy gets worried. He hears knocking at his door or window. It is a talking animal or non-human of some sort. He hears that the local monster thing that lives in a cave or mountain through the woods has stolen the bird things and plans to eat them and/or make them sing only for him. The boy says, “We must get them back. We must!”. The boy climbs on the back of a horse or four-legged animal and they race through the woods to the cave/mountain. The boy sneaks into the cave where the bird things are in cages. He releases them somehow and they escape. Not sure what happens to the monster thing. The book ends as the bird things once again fly over his house and sing him to sleep. I want to say that the monster thing is a Gorgon but I’ve maybe conflated Greek myths later on with this early fantasy children’s book. Or, it is a really well known adaptation and this will be an easy solve.